nbc's pete williams is in washington. pete with a good day, what have you learned? >> reporter: alex, the connecticut authorities have not yet formally identified the gunman, but we're been told and i think it's widely known it's adam lanza is his name, 20 years old who was living with his mother. they say the shooting actually began that morning about three miles from the school at the home where he was living with his mother, that he shot her then drove her car to the school. now we're told that he had actually four handguns when he entered the school. we had known about the first two. they say there were two others that were found. and then he also had a rifle that was not brought into the school we're told by several officials, that it was left in the car, and that all these weapons were legally purchased by his parents. although officials say on tuesday of this past week adam lanza went to a sporting goods store in connecticut and tried to buy a rifle but was turned down for various reasons, because of the connecticut firearm restrictions laws. now the other th